HUNTSVILLE, Alabama – Homeowners from across Huntsville are pleading with the City Council to crack down on dilapidated rental properties.

During a council work session Thursday, residents from Merrimack Mill Village, Mount Charron, Chaffee and other neighborhoods told the council they are living among rental homes with bats roosting in the attic, broken windows, damaged walls stuffed with paper, moldy siding, rotting trees, no smoke detectors and many other problems.

Ronald Robinson of Mount Vernon Road estimated that 65 percent of the houses in his area are rentals. "Some of these, I wouldn't give to my dog," he said.

Several members of the Huntsville Council of Neighborhood Associations – a task force created by Mayor Tommy Battle – said the city needs to follow the lead of Gadsden, Anniston, Houston and other places that have passed laws to better regulate rental houses.

Ron Williams, who lives in the Mount Charron area, said Huntsville should start by requiring annual exterior and interior inspections of every rental home. While the exact number is unknown, there are likely thousands of rental houses in the city limits.

The neighborhood council says landlords should also have to buy a city business license, register their rental properties and perform criminal background checks on all prospective tenants.

Tom McAdams, president of the Fleming Meadows-Westbury Estates civic association, said he's been asking city officials and state lawmakers for relief from seedy rental houses since 2010 with little to show for it.

"We're getting nowhere," said McAdams.

Steve Gaffin, vice president of the Merrimack Mill Village Organization, said rental homes should be certified as safe to live in just as restaurants are deemed safe to eat at through health department inspections.

Gaffin argued that tighter laws would help "filter out" bad landlords that don't want to deal with the extra cost, paperwork and annual inspections. "We have to regulate this industry," he said.

City Administrator John Hamilton offered to study what other cities are doing to deal with run-down rental properties and report back to the mayor in about 60 days.

Councilman Will Culver said he is "open and receptive" to any idea that will help Huntsville's neighborhoods. But he cautioned that annual checkups of every rental property in town would strain the city inspections department and court system.

Councilman Bill Kling said the city should consider an incremental approach to fixing up ratty rental houses. "Let's do it in a way that we know we're not going to have to reverse ourselves," he said.